Business Management

General Objective The course of Managerial Economics aims at providing the students with the basic microeconomic and analytical tools for a better comprehension of managerial problems. At the end of this module, students should be able to develop simple analytical models to represent actual business situations. Specific Objectives Knowledge and understanding: Knowledge of fundamental concepts concerning optimal choices of economic agents, namely of individuals/households and firms. Simple analytical techniques of optimization, and corresponding graphic representations, will be used to understand basic economic mechanisms, leading to market demands for goods and services from the consumers’ perspective. On the firms’ side, the same techniques will allow students to compute market demand functions of inputs, or conditional factor demands, as well as the corresponding profit and cost functions. From cost functions it will then be possible to go back to profit maximization, considering several market structures (perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition). Finally, the role of government and globalization in business activities will be analysed. Applying knowledge and understanding: To be able apply the acquired knowledge in the microeconomic field competently and thoughtfully. To undertake proper arguments aimed at solving actual business problems. Making judgements: To be able to represent simple and less simple business phenomena with basic tools of microeconomics. Ability to find out, in textbooks and field journals, proper research methodologies concerning various possible applications. Communication skills: Ability to explain the main issues concerning the fundamental choices of microeconomic units (households and firms). Ability to write by using the discipline’s own terminology. Ability to convey, to specialists and not, the main strengths and weaknesses of the models used, as well as of the supporting empirical analyses. Learning skills: Ability to autonomously extend the acquired knowledge, by using more textbooks and scientific papers, Ability to self-teach new analytical tools to further improve the knowledge of the subjects dealt with in class.